Halt and Catch Fire from AMC is far below any expectations form the network. The title is only half right for starters. The acting and writing seem to be lack luster. Why is a period known for day glow colors so grey anyway? I have given this show its three episodes and I really think I am just going to give up.

The new series Halt and Catch Fire is about the early 80’s tech boom. Yes there was a tech boom in the early 80’s. It is the boom that brought the price of PCs down to a reasonable level and put them in the houses of many Americans. This series focusses on a small tech firm trying to build a better cheaper PC. But it really has not gone anywhere. I am three episodes in and I really couldn’t care less for any of the characters or why they are doing what they do. This is far less than what I expect from AMC. This show is like Mad Men but it is set in the 80’s and their take on the topic of tech could not me more boring. Maybe I am just missing something here. Maybe it is because I remember my first computer from the 80’s. Maybe AMC has just hit a dud, I mean they were due. Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Mad Men, and Hell on Wheels it was going to have to stop eventually right?

The stories leave you with nothing. They really feel like some rushed report for English class in the 6th grade. All the information is their but there is now flash no sizzle, and hell the steak really isn’t that good. This show has no focus. Are we an office drama? Are we a family drama? Are we a critical look at t time period no one really wants to look at yet? It seems to try each of these but fails to nail any one of them. Every show is about something. Even Seinfeld was about a group of friends being single in NY, I know they said it was about nothing but they were wrong. Every show has to fit in to a category otherwise why am I watching it. Shows that are successful have an over lying theme; they fit into our lives and we imagine ourselves in them, even if only on a subconscious level. This show does not fit this anywhere.

The 80’s were a time of bright colors and carefree attitude. We had come out of the 70’s with only disco and cocaine. The 80’s were a fresh start for America and our future was never brighter than in that decade. Halt and Catch Fire wants to down play this livelihood in exchange for dark suits and grey skies. I mean it works on the Americans but that is what that show is about; the dark fight of the cold war. Halt and Catch Fire should be a little brighter on the outside to juxtapose with the drama, that I think, they are going for. This could make for wonderful story telling.
Halt and Catch fire does only half the title. It seems to have simply halted. There is no reason for me to tune in next week; I just fail to care about anyone or anything in this show. Maybe it’s just not for me. Maybe I just do not get it. I think this is AMC first real flop, it was bound to happen, and this feels like the one. Watch it if you want but I really think I am out on this one.